Spiced Rum Christmas Fruit Cake

A beautiful aromatic cake loaded with mixed dry fruits soaked in spiced rum, makes any Christmas special. The cake is flavourful with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice makes it a perfect combination of nuts,dried fruits and spices. This is my take on the famous Plum cake or fruit cake as we call it in India, every state has its own version of a fruit cake. The dried fruits are soaked in brandy or rum weeks or sometimes months ago. 

Growing up in India as a Hindu we did not celebrate Christmas at home, but I studied in a Catholic school, so we celebrated Christmas every year in school. We had carol singing, a Christmas tree, a huge crib placed every year depicting the night that Jesus was born. One thing in India is that no matter what your religion is, we still celebrate all festivals and Christmas is a very huge celebration. 

A famous cake that you can buy in your local bakery for every Christmas is what we call ‘Plum cake’ or ‘Fruit cake’ and I remember waiting for this particular cake every Christmas, my Mum made sure she bought it for us every year. 

After I met my husband who is Polish, and we moved to Ireland, we started our own little family and we celebrate a mix of Polish and Irish Christmas here in Dublin. We have our own traditions and cakes. Last year we spent our Christmas in Goa, India and we enjoyed this beautiful cake. This year I decided to bake my own version of Plum cake and it was delicious. 

You can soak the mixed dried fruits for a couple of weeks in advance, if you don't have time then you can soak them for one or two days too.

I created this recipe for Ele Magazine back in 2020 and as always it was a pleasure working with them, this recipe was published in their festive issue in Australia! was so happy to see my recipe published and printed in a magazine abroad. Linked here - ELE Magazine ISSUSE 2

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Love and hugs 

S

  Spiced Rum Christmas Fruit Cake

Prep Time: Preparation - 30 to 40 mins Baking - 40 to 60 mins Servings: Makes about 10 slices INGREDIENTS To soak -  250 grams mixed dried fruits like raisins, mixed peel, currants.  200 ml good quality spiced rum or brandy   Dry ingredients -  350 grams or 2 cups plain flour or all purpose flour 100 grams dark brown sugar 100 grams golden caster sugar 1 tsp mixed spice  ½ tsp ground cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg ½ tsp baking soda 50 grams icing sugar 1 ½ tsp baking powder   Wet Ingredients - 200 grams unsalted butter softened  2 egg yolk 4 egg whites 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 tbsp orange marmalade 60 ml milk   100 grams crushed cashews  Extra Icing sugar for dusting the cake Custard to sever (optional)

Prep Time:

Preparation - 30 to 40 mins Baking - 40 to 60 mins

Servings:

Makes about 10 slices

INGREDIENTS

To soak - 

• 250 grams mixed dried fruits like raisins, mixed peel, currants. 
• 200 ml good quality spiced rum or brandy

 

Dry ingredients - 

• 350 grams or 2 cups plain flour or all purpose flour
• 100 grams dark brown sugar
• 100 grams golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice 
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 50 grams icing sugar
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

 

Wet Ingredients -

• 200 grams unsalted butter softened 
• 2 egg yolk
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp orange marmalade
• 60 ml milk

 

100 grams crushed cashews 

Extra Icing sugar for dusting the cake

Custard to sever (optional)

 

instructions

1. Soak the mixed dried fruits in rum or brandy and set aside for one or two days or if possible for a couple of weeks. 
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius and line a 9 inch springform cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with butter. 
3. In a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and the spices and set aside.
4. In another bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, now add the dark and golden sugar and beat until nice and creamy for about 2 minutes.
5. Add the egg yolks one by one and beat until smooth for about 1 to two mins. Add the dried fruits soaked mixture and orange marmalade and chopped cashew nuts, mix well, do not over beat. 
6. Add the flour mixture and gently mix using a wooden spoon or a spatula, the mixture at this stage will look dry and crumby, do not worry, we will add the egg whites in a while. 
7. In another large bowl beat the egg whites until foamy this will take about 3 to 4 mins on high speed, add the icing sugar little by little in parts and continue beating until you have very soft peaks and can being to see the trails of the blender, stop at this stage, do not over beat otherwise it will turn into stiff peaks. 
8. Very gently fold in the egg white mixture in three parts, do not mix too hard otherwise you will lose the air in the egg whites, very gently fold it into the batter. Lastly add the milk and stir into the batter.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in a preheated oven for about 50 to 60 mins, depending on your oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
10. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Serve with a generous dusting of icing sugar or with custard. Enjoy!